GINA PARKINSON finds there is no time to be sad in the late-autumn garden.

THE blowsy summer borders have faded and our gardens are turning gold and red in the low, autumn sunset.

My husband asked if I felt sad being in the garden at this time of year. A strange question to ask a gardener which, in my opinion can be another word for optimist. It is true that much of the garden is dying back but at the same time some of those plants are already beginning to bud up for next year. So the garden is really never at a standstill, it sometimes just takes a bit of an effort to see what is really going on.

There are always things to be seen in our gardens whatever the month and a cool, sunny, autumn day will provide some of the best sights of the year, bearing in mind that this sentence can be applied at will in spring, summer and even winter.

The pairing of plants I like at the moment is Verbena bonariensis growing through the golden stems of Molinia ‘Transparent’. The beautiful combination of burnt gold and fading lilac is lovely and the two plants add a tall elegance to a bed or border.

The grass has long arching flower stems held well above the clump of thin leaves.

In our garden, the verbena seems hardy and in a sheltered spot it is able to come through the winter. I leave it unpruned until early spring by which time the new shoots will be well on their way. At this point any dead or broken stems can be cut out and the height of the remaining shoots reduced to just above new growth.

Earlier in the summer my husband had the bright idea of creating a long border on the west-facing side of the garden. It will incorporate established shrubs and trees that cannot be moved as well as perennials transplanted from elsewhere in the garden alongside new purchases.

At the same time, the lawn will be extended into two beds that cut across the garden and whose plants are to be moved into the new border. Sounds simple but the task is likely to take most of the winter to complete.

Part of the new border had been cleared and dug over several weeks ago so last Sunday saw us out in the milky sunshine starting to fill it with grasses, aquilegeas and euphorbias. Clumps of bulbs dug from the bed destined to become lawn have also been added to the mix.

Tete-a-tete daffodils and snowdrops were revealed as plants were dug up and they are already shooting. So no, it is never time to be sad in the garden even at the end of the year. Something is happening underground and it is only a few weeks away from the first snowdrops and the hint that spring is about to come our way.


Weekend catch up

Dahlias may have caught the frosts we have had in the middle of last week. They can turn from being full of foliage and heavy with blooms into a sorry sight of blackened leaves and stems and drooping flowers very quickly. It is at this point they need to be lifted and stored for the winter.

Once this has happened, the top growth of the dahlia should be cut back to around 15 centimetres above the ground.

Carefully fork out the tubers and remove as much soil as possible without damaging the tuber or roots. Then turn upside down and store somewhere dry for a week or so to completely drain and dry out. Any remaining soil can then be brushed off and the dahlias can be placed upright in a box lined with a layer of compost. A little more compost can be used to cover the roots but not the tubers.

Store the dahlias in a cool but frost free place for the winter. I keep mine under the table in the garden shed where they generally make it through the winter. Once we get to the end of February they can be potted up, watered and brought into the house or frost free greenhouse to wake up. It is at this point that large clumps of tubers can be divided to make extra plants.


In the vegetable garden

We will be lifting the first of our parsnips this weekend. This is a new crop for our vegetable area and one which initially seemed destined to fail.

Seed was sown in spring, three to a hole, as recommended by someone, 15 centimetres apart. The days then weeks passed, weeds grew and nothing seemed to be happening on the parsnip front. Then I spotted something different beginning to pop up. The parsnips were beginning to grow.

It has to be said that germination was poor, only around 25 per cent of seed grew and as luck would have it either all three seeds in a hole were successful or none at all.

So the usual thinning out wasn’t possible, there was no way that any precious seedling was to be discarded. So the whole lot were lifted and transplanted into a new bed since when they have settled in and grown throughout the summer and are hopefully ready to eat.

I have since learnt that parsnip seed has to be fresh. There is no point keeping left over seed from year to year. Instead sow the whole lot and have lots of fingers crossed.


Gardening TV and radio

Sunday 6am, BBC2, Life in a Cottage Garden with Carol Klein.

6.30am, BBC2, Great British Garden Revival.

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

9am, BBC Radio York, Julia Lewis. Gardening news and features from around North Yorkshire.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther with Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. The team help gardeners in Leeds.

Friday 3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Eric Robson and his panel of experts answer questions from listeners. With Chris Beardshaw, Pippa Greenwood, Christine Walkden and Rosie Yeomans.